Calls grow for int'l help in Maluku

JAKARTA (JP): Calls for a foreign peacekeeping mission in the Maluku Islands grew here on Thursday following a National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) statement that the government should consider "international cooperation" to end the violence there.

Komnas HAM Secretary General Asmara Nababan said that the dispatch of an international peacekeeping mission to the conflict areas be considered.

"The UN peacekeeping mission should be composed of civilian police personnel, and not the military," Asmara said when asked by The Jakarta Post to further elaborate on what the Commission meant by "international cooperation".

Komnas HAM in a four-point statement on Wednesday noted the "state failure" in resolving the conflict despite it having lasted for over 18 months and costing thousands of lives.

It called for a resolution to the Maluku issue to be the "primary national priority", including taking "concrete and humane steps" to overcome the issue of refugees as a result of the conflict.

"Because the government has been unable to end the conflict, there is concern that the international community will force intervention which will only widen conflict. Because of that it is time the government consider international cooperation," Komnas HAM said.

The statement said any "cooperation" should preferably come from Indonesia's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as they were likely to be more acceptable to the local people.

ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

However the statement itself, signed by Commission chairman Djoko Soegianto and Asmara Nababan, stopped short of openly suggesting a foreign peacekeeping mission.

Munir, founder of human rights watchdog Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, on Thursday was quick to support the idea of a foreign peacekeeping mission saying that international intervention was necessary to control the security apparatus which has allegedly sided with the warring parties.

"The conflict in Maluku could have been controlled if the security personnel there were in the clear," Munir said.

"We have to admit that we don't have the capability...we can't deal not only with the security problems but also with the humanitarian crisis," he said adding that the government does not have enough experience in dealing with the social aspects of the conflict.

Munir also supported the idea of having foreign police, instead of military, as peacekeepers in Maluku.

He pointed out that the situation in Maluku was different to that in East Timor. Army elements, he said, would remain in the area and thus there would be the potential of direct "contact" between Indonesian and foreign troops.

The Maluku Islands have been devastated by bloody sectarian fighting which has killed over 3,000 and over a hundred thousand people have been displaced.

Jakarta, however, has ruled out the use of foreign peacekeepers but has said it would welcome humanitarian aid.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab told the Post later in the day that asking foreign troops to come in "will only ruin the government's credibility and hurt the nation's pride".

Alwi, who will meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on Aug. 19 to discuss the issue of East Timorese refugees in West Timor, maintained that the government was still capable of handling the situation in Maluku.

Indonesian Military (TNI) Spokesman Air Vice Marshall Graito Usodo echoed Alwi's sentiment, saying the military should be given more time as it was "less than two months" since the government imposed a state of civil emergency on Maluku.

Asmara said, however, that the time is running out and that "it is very difficult for the government to disregard the international pressure" as fresh clashes were taking place.

"I think the international pressure would ease up on the government if the state of civil emergency can dramatically reduce the violence, but it's clear that that's not the case".

He added that it was also "very difficult" for the international community to believe the government's promises.

The United Nations on Wednesday opened a resource center in the provincial capital of Ambon to support local and international efforts to address humanitarian needs in the region.

Leaders of the Christian community in Ambon have repeatedly expressed distrust of TNI troops deployed there and have called for foreign peacekeepers.

They have accused soldiers of siding with Muslims, and cite several documented cases of uniformed and armed soldiers taking part in attacks on Christian settlements in Ambon in recent weeks.

Muslims have in turn accused police of bias toward Christians. (byg/dja)